NFL: Eagles get their man in Oregon's Chip Kelly

The Eagles got their man.Seventeen days into a seemingly endless search they convinced Oregon’s Chip Kelly, who initially spurned their advances, to succeed Andy Reid as head coach of the Eagles.

Kelly was at the top of the Eagles’ search list.

Shortly after noon the Eagles confirmed the hiring of Kelly, who will be introduced at a press conference at 1:30 today.

“Chip Kelly will be an outstanding head coach for the Eagles,” owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement. “He has a brilliant football mind. He motivates his team with his actions as well as his words. He will be a great leader for us and will bring a fresh energetic approach to our team.”

No comment right now from former Eagles president Joe Banner, who tried everything to get Kelly to coach the Cleveland Browns. Browns owner Jimmy Haslam can’t feel completely fulfilled settling for Rob Chudzinski as his head coach. Chudzinski, formerly offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers, was Plan B.

The Eagles said in their release that Kelly “continued to evaluate the opportunity to work for the Eagles in the NFL” after he told them he wasn’t interested.

The Eagles reconnected with Kelly while speaking to Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, who they also were courting, at a coaches convention reports said. Amid the buzz at the convention was the NCAA sanctions facing Kelly at Oregon. It’s not known how the anticipated disciplinary measures impacted Kelly’s turnabout.

The Eagles were still talking to Kelly while they interviewed Bradley. With all signs pointing to a news conference with Bradley as the new Eagles head coach, the meeting ended late Tuesday without an agreement.

And then the job was Kelly’s.“I was definitely surprised, especially with all of the rumors that we had heard a week or so ago about Chip deciding to stay at Oregon and not come into the NFL,” Eagles defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins told the NFL Network. “So it was a little bit of a shock today when I heard that.

“He’s a successful person. He’s had a lot of success and anytime you have somebody like that and his desire, he’s going to do whatever it takes for us to be as successful here as well. I don’t know too much about him but from what I’ve seen and just highlights, I’ve heard he’s someone with a lot of emotion and someone who doesn’t accept not being successful.”

The forward-thinking Kelly and his up-tempo, quick-snap offense were so far out of the mix after his initial meeting with Eagles brass, the team ultimately released a statement saying it expended a ton of resources and effort trying to land college coaches.

The other college guys who turned the Eagles down were Notre Dame’s Kelly and Penn State’s Bill O’Brien.

With the pool of candidates dwindling, the Eagles put the full-court press on Bradley. The 46-year-old coordinator was flown in on a private jet, entertained at Lurie’s estate, and seemed all but a news conference from becoming the team’s 21st head coach.

Kelly, 49, replaces Reid, who was fired on Dec. 31 after a 4-12 season. Kelly was 46-7 in four years at Oregon.

Following the Fiesta Bowl, Kelly said he wanted to get the interview process over “quickly.” Turns out, it was anything but.

Kelly came close to jumping to the pros last year but turned down an offer from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to return for his fourth season as coach at Oregon. He boosted the school’s national profile — flashy uniforms helped — with a high-powered offense capable of turning any game into a track meet.

Under Kelly, Oregon averaged nearly 49.6 points this past season and 44.7 points in his four-year tour there.

Kelly doesn’t have any pro coaching experience but aspects of his up-tempo offense are already being used by some NFL teams, including New England and Washington.

Oregon could be facing NCAA sanctions for the school’s use of recruiting services.

“We’ve cooperated fully with them,” Kelly said. “If they want to talk to us again we’ll continue to cooperate fully. I feel confident in the situation.”